It’s that time of year again! You have until the end of March to nominate for New Zealand’s awards for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. The nomination form is here. And our (unofficial) list of eligible works is here.
There were so many exciting works published last year that it’s hard to pick favourites. Anyone, anywhere in the world can nominate. I take the approach of nominating ALL THE THINGS because there’s no limit on the number of works you can nominate (just don’t nominate the same work more than once). I’ve nominated 23 so far and I’m only 6 categories in. It doesn’t take long to fill in the form, but if you need to limit your nominations then below are some ideas on how to narrow it down. I’ve skipped a few categories that I don’t feel qualified to rec.
Best Novel
If international traditional publishing releases are your thing (and let’s be honest, they should be featuring as finalists in our national awards because they are representing us on the world stage) then you can’t go past:
H.G. Parry, A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, which is her second novel following her successful debut in 2019.
Nalini Singh, Alpha Night, because the presence of romance shouldn’t negate the value of the fantastic Urban Fantasy worldbuilding and plots full of intrigue that are typical of Singh’s novels. She is wildly successful and probably our best-known Fantasy author internationally and she should be a regular appearance in the SJV finalists.
In Indie publishing, EVERYONE should be nominating:
AJ Lancaster, Court of Mortals. This is the third novel in a series of four historical fae fantasies. They have all been super successful and Lancaster got an audiobook deal of the back of that in 2020. The series has delightfully angsty family, beautiful fae wings, sentient lands, and intrigue, and they are just WONDERFUL.
Best Youth Novel
There are so many great Youth Novels from last year, so I will focus on the ones I think could be overlooked when they clearly should not be, like:
Bren MacDibble, Across the Risen Sea. I haven’t read this but MacDibble (and her other penname Callie Black) has won a NZ Childrens and Young Adult Book Award for every book she has written and what’s not to love about cli-fi for kids?
Chloe Gong, These Violent Delights. I can’t wait to read this Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, with rival gangs and a monster in the depths of the Huangpu River. The release of this has been huge and I see the book in every bookstore I go to.
Caitlin Spice, Adam Reynolds & Chaz Harris, Raven Wild. This is the third LGBTQf+ fairy tale picture book story released from Promised Land Books. In Raven Wild, a reckless young boy named Hawk transitions into a courageous young woman called Raven. This wonderful local Wellington publisher deserves the recognition for these vital stories for young people.
Best Novella/Novelette
If lockdown left you with a short attention span, you should definitely get into this under-rated length for fiction. There’s so many choose from. Give these a try:
AJ Fitzwater, No Mans Land. I’ve lost track of all the recommended reading lists I’ve seen this historical fantasy set in the golden plains of North Otago on. It came out from the AMAZING Wellington publisher Paper Road Press.
Nova Blake, Hexes & Vexes. This novella is part of a super fun collaborative witchy fiction project that you should definitely check out. These are all stories about magic, spells, and familiars, where the end is not nigh and love can prevail. Blake’s contribution is set in small-town Okato and is typical of the emotional intelligence she shows in her work. It will make you feel good. Also, magic!
Best Short Story
I love the short story format and there are so many I could choose from here. I’ve focussed on ones that are free to read and access.
Andi C. Buchanan, Salvage, Takahē 98. Buchanan’s prose is always beautiful and their emotional honesty and resonance flows through so clearly in this story. It’s also a great example of NZ literary magazine Takahē’s admirable commitment to not ignoring great genre stories.
Octavia Cade, Come Water, Be One Of Us, Strange Horizons. Cade’s ability to mix scientific and political commentary into a great story is a huge strength and this story is a great example. Strange Horizons is one of the top international genre magazines. It’s hard to get into and we should be recognising the talented kiwi short fiction writers who are getting into these top publications.
Tabatha Wood, Night Wolves, Originally published in Black Dogs Black Tales and now free to read on their website. This was one of my top picks in this anthology and is a delightfully suspenseful horror story. If you like it, consider purchasing the whole anthology as there are many more wonderful dark doggy tales and all proceeds go to the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand.
Best Collected Work
This is another category where there are so many I could pick, but I’m going to limit myself to three.
AJ Fitzwater, Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper, Queen of Swords Press. Lesbian. Capybara. Pirate. Need I say more? Also it is on recommended reading lists for all sorts of awards including the Hugos, Nebulas and Lambdas.
Elizabeth Knox and David Larsen (eds), Monsters in the Garden, Victoria University Press. OK, I’l be honest. There’re some names I would have loved to have seen included in this that weren’t, but it’s still got a bunch of the real gems of NZ SFF. They also leaned right into pulp SFF for the cover and we should be encouraging our local presses to be brave enough to keep producing great SFF books.
Marie Hodgkinson (Ed), Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy Volume 2, Paper Road Press. Marie is a GIFT to the NZ SFF community. I am so grateful I started short fiction publishing at the same time Paper Road Press started putting out these fabulous odes to the best short fiction we are producing. Volume 1 won the award last year and Volume 2 is just as fantastic, and more than that just as desperately necessary for our community.
Best Artwork
The three titans (or maybe sirens?) of NZ genre professional artwork continue to stun with their work. I would never pick just one of them. Go check out what they’ve been up to:
Emma Weakley-look for the covers of The Stone Wētā by Octavia Cade and Aurealis Issue 132.
Laya Rose-look for the covers of No Man’s Land and Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy Volume 2
Vivienne To-Look for so many amazing covers! Including from publishers Scholastic, Bloomsbury and Sourcebooks
Best New Talent
Wah! Can’t they all get this?! They are all so deserving. I’m sticking to my no more than three recs though:
AJ Lancaster. It’s her last year of eligibility. She is killing it with three of her four book series out. Amazing sales records. An audiobook contract. Stunning covers, even more stunning and complex beautiful plots. She’s been quietly working away and achieving amazing things. She also volunteers for the community, including in the publications team for CoNZealand last year producing the ConBook.
Chloe Gong. She’s had a damn impressive international debut with These Violent Delights and she’s still at university.
HG Parry. She’s managing a release every year with her third book on the way through international publishers with great reviews. Also, her debut was set in Wellington. It’s nice to see an international success story with a local setting.
Best Fan Artwork
Laya Rose should get a Hugo for this fan artwork inspired by This is How You Lose the Time War. That is all.
Also, go check out all the links in the spreadsheet at the top for more amazing fan artwork.
Services to Fandom
It seems like the CoNZealand Crew should be a shoo-in for this award given they hosted WorldCon on behalf of New Zealand for the first time ever.
Services to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror
I was honoured to receive this Special Award last year and I know EXACTLY who deserves it this year. Y’all need to go nominate her immediately:
Cassie worked tirelessly to support inclusion of local and international SFFH writers at CoNZealand, including programming and fearlessly advocating for opportunities for Māori authors and being instrumental to driving the inclusion scholarship initiatives. She personally mentored several local writers at the convention and co-developed the internationally award-nominated CoNZealand Fringe event that opened with a showcase panel she chaired titled “What is Modern Aotearoa New Zealand Speculative Fiction”. Every time she spoke, she used the opportunity to lift up NZ genre writers, and in particular Māori genre writers. This culminated in her invitation to speak as Guest of Honour at the prestigious international FIYAHCon convention. For many in the international SFFH community, Cassie was the face and voice of the NZ SFFH genre writers in 2020 and she used that opportunity with grace and strength to lift up local and indigenous SFFH writers. Her work in 2020 built off the foundation of years of such generosity and dedication.
This is my list when I tried really hard to limit myself. If you’re not on it, it doesn’t mean I didn’t love your stuff or that I haven’t nominated you! Do go check out the spreadsheet here for the full list of eligible works. I’ve tried to focus on the works I loved, the works I think could get forgotten and shouldn’t be, and the works that we should be screaming about to the world or that the world is already screaming about to us.
Also, I’d be honoured if you’d consider my short story ‘Synaesthete’ from Black Dogs, Black Tales in the Short Story category. I’m happy to email you a copy to read if you get in touch. Melanie.HardingShaw(at)gmail.com